ONE YEAR LATER: REMEMBERING DENNIS LEE THROUGH HIS CD RECORDINGS

 

ONE YEAR LATER: 

REMEMBERING DENNIS LEE 

THROUGH HIS CD RECORDINGS 

It has been one year since the passing of the pioneering Malaya-born concert pianist Dennis Lee. A native of Penang, he was the first Malaysian pianist to make an international career from concertising, teaching and judging piano competitions. He and his wife, fellow-pianist Toh Chee Hung, were based in London but made regular visits to Singapore and Malaysia for performances and teaching. 

While we all have fond personal memories of Dennis, it was his piano recordings that will withstand the posterity of time for the rest of the listening public. He made precious few recordings for an artist of his stature, but quality rather than quantity defined his output. There was nothing he recorded which was less than his personal high standards, and much can bear scrutiny alongside the best in the highly competitive recording industry. 

Released in 1991 was arguably Dennis’ greatest recording of all, a recital of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski’s piano music (Hyperion CDA 66409). His was one of the first Szymanowski piano recordings to have come out on CD (way before the likes of Anderszewski, Zimerman, Blechacz, Roscoe and Tiberghien) and was warmly received by critics and listeners alike. 

The varied programme included the Scriabinesque Four Etudes (Op.4), the rarely-heard Lisztian Fantasy (Op.14), and the great cycles inspired by mythology, Metopes (Op.29) and Masques (Op.34). The playing is sensitive yet febrile in intensity. Its success saw it being reissued on Hyperion’s budget label Helios (CDH 55081) during the noughties. 

The Helios reissue is still available.

Prior to this classic saw Dennis as a junior partner to great French pianist Philippe Entremont in a selection of Ravel’s piano works for four hands, including the Mother Goose Suite and Habanera on two pianos from Sites Auriculaires / Rapsodie Espagnole. These were recorded in London for Columbia Masterworks in 1974. Entremont needed a second pianist, and it so happened that he and Dennis shared the same concert agency. The recording I have was a budget reissue on Sony Classical (SB2K 53528), which was autographed by both pianists. These may now be found in Entremont’s big box of solo recordings, also issued by Sony. 

Piano duo music occupied much of Dennis’ concert life, and his most celebrated partnership was with Singapore-born pianist Toh Chee Hung. The husband-and-wife pairing became the most prominent piano duo in this part of the world, a Southeast Asian version of the famous Israeli Eden and Tamir duo. Piano Music for Four Hands (DL-001) from 2002 was a self-produced disc which relived a cross-section of the duo’s repertoire. 

Pride of place is Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, and the programme includes sonatas by Mozart (D major, K.381), Hummel (E flat major, Op.51), and selections from Moritz Moszkowski’s From Foreign Parts (Op.23) and Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, capped off with the encore Qui Vive (Grande Galop de Concert) by the little-known Wilhelm Ganz. This is piano duo playing at its finest. 

There is an early-1980s LP recording that features Dennis, Chee Hung and former Singapore Attorney-General Tan Boon Teik playing Mozart’s Concerto for Three Pianos (K.242) with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Choo Hoey, issued as a fundraiser for the orchestra. This is likely to be the only recording of the duo in a concertante work. Immaculate fingerwork and ensemble are to be discerned, notwithstanding a certain amateur pianist’s contribution. The final Rondo was later excerpted for a 2000 commemorative CD of the orchestra’s 21st anniversary. These are true rarities likely only to be found in private collections. 

It was a pity that the duo did not make any further recordings, but one is grateful that the Singapore Symphony Group captured a live performance at the 2005 edition of the Singapore International Piano Festival. Impressions and Encores, a limited-edition CD which showcased highlights from that festival, replicated some earlier repertoire (Dvorak and Ganz) but included Schubert’s Variations on an Original Theme (D.803) and the Ravel transcription of Debussy’s Fetes (from Three Nocturnes). These are masterly performances that bear repeated listening. 

Speaking of Debussy’s piano music, this was a project that occupied the last decade of Dennis’ musical and recording career. Issued by the UK-based Independent Creative Sound and Music (ICSM) Recordings label, we are fortunate to have two discs of this wonderful music. Debussy Piano Works Vol.1 (ICSM 007) released in 2015 contains the First Book of Images, posthumously-published Images oubliees (Forgotten Images), Estampes, Two Arabesques, La plus que lent and L’isle joyeuse. 

Piano Works Vol.2 (ICSM 015) from 2020, issued during the Covid-19 pandemic contains both books of Debussy’s Preludes. Only ill health prevented him from completing the set, which would have included the Second Book of Images, 12 Etudes and assorted short pieces. His illness was no impediment to his musical imagination and vision, not to mention technical virtuosity, judging how fine these final recordings are. These will certainly stand the test of time. 

Dennis did not live to autograph
my copy of his final CD recording...

... however, he did leave me a 
souvenir of our very first meeting
some 34 years ago. 

Dennis Lee was a friend and inspiration to us all who love music in Singapore and Malaysia, and those who knew him in the rest of the world. Even though he is no longer with us, his recordings serve as a constant reminder of his artistry and ultimately, his humanity.

MORE TRIBUTES & MEMORIES OF DENNIS LEE

Photo courtesy of 
Singapore Music Teachers Association.

MORE MEMORIES AND 

TRIBUTES TO DENNIS LEE

 

Dennis and Chee Hung with
Julie Tan & Chia Sin Teck (extreme right)
Courtesy of Singapore Music Teachers Association.

JULIE TAN, President of Singapore Music Teachers Association (SMTA) writes

 

It is with deep sadness that we received news that our dear friend, pianist Dennis Lee had passed away on Friday morning 14th April 2023 in London, leaving behind his beloved wife and pianist, Toh Chee Hung.

 

Many piano teachers and students around the world including Singapore have benefitted from Dennis’ rich teaching, his lectures as well as his performances especially his piano duo partnership with Chee Hung.

 

Over the years, with The Singapore Music Teachers Association, he and Chee Hung, our fellow Life member, had earnestly supported SMTA’s mission through our initiatives, The Singapore Performers’ Festival & Chamber Music Competition and the Le Petit Performers’ Fest.

 

Each of us who had interacted with him either on a personal or collegial basis, we will have fond memories of him, his sincerity and humour. He'll remain in our hearts and memories.

 

Farewell, dear friend.

Courtesy of Singapore Music Teachers Association.

 

AU KAH KAY writes

 

Dennis was a down-to-earth and magnanimous person. He made you feel comfortable and at ease and always had an encouraging word to say. He will be greatly missed by the music community.  

 

NOEL CHOW writes

 

I was 17 or 18 (a good 20 or 21 years ago) and doing my Grade 8 ABRSM practical exam. And Dennis Lee was going to be my examiner. Most people are intimidated by their ABRSM examiners.

 

Well, I had spent a few years of primary/secondary school in the UK listening to Classic FM, and Dennis was a big name with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The station back then (hosted by Anne-Marie Minhall) played his recordings quite often. He was well-known in Penang, and had gone to the same school as I did, Penang Free School, before being awarded a scholarship to London’s Royal College of Music.

 

I was already a huge fan before going in for the exam. I had practised hard for this exam, and when I eventually got in the room, and staring at my boyhood idol in the flesh, I somehow forgot how to play the piano. There I was in the room with the guy I grew up listening to on Classic FM. He asked me to play this scale and I nervously told him that scale didn't exist. He calmly walked up to me, opened the book and said, “Well there it is.” Embarrassed, I play it. Badly.

 

I can't remember how the rest of it went, but somehow ended with a passing grade. None of that matters of course, because I now get to say Dennis Lee was my examiner. In loving memory. 

Victor Khor with Dennis and Chee Hung
at a Yamaha salon, 2011.

VICTOR KHOR, Concert Pianist writes

As a teenager, I remembered watching Dennis Lee's masterclass on television where he taught a student to play Brahms' Third Sonata, and I was very inspired. When I was a music student in Manchester, he invited me to his London apartment where I played some pieces and had tea with him and Chee Hung. He encouraged me on my musical aspirations, and was always generous and kind to me.     

 

DENNIS LEE's Funeral will take place at West London Crematorium at 10.45 am on Friday, 28 April 2023.

IN MEMORIAM: DENNIS LEE (1946-2023) A Tribute by Phan Ming Yen

DENNIS LEE: IN MEMORIAM

BY PHAN MING YEN

 

For a whole generation of us who grew up in the Malaysia of the 1980s loving music and the piano and who had dreams of a career in piano playing, Dennis Lee shaped our world.

 

I like to think that I probably heard most (if not all) of the times Dennis played in Kuala Lumpur in the mid-1980s at the former British Council Auditorium in Bukit Aman. I was fortunate enough to have parents who brought me to his concerts each time he was in town.

 

From memory and from a glance of old concert programmes dating from 1980 till about 1984, Dennis brought to us music - in the days long before music was as accessible as it is now online - that ran the spectrum from past to present. There was anything and everything from Mozart through Brahms via Debussy to Christopher Headington (1930 – 1996).

 

I distinctly remember Beethoven’s Moonlight and Pathetique Sonatas and the Chopin Funeral March Sonata in one concert and my introduction to Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit was through Dennis having programmed that work in a first half that opened with Prokofiev’s Sonata No.2 and with a second half the comprised Brahms’s Sonata No.3. The concerts were well attended and possibly every music student in town was present. At that time, he was like a beacon, showing that a career as a solo pianist was possible for Malaysians. As a piano student, you kind of grow up wanting to be like him.

 

The last time I heard Dennis in a solo recital was here in Singapore, at the former DBS Auditorium (1990 or 1991) and for whatever reason a Liszt Funerailles from that evening still remains in my mind.

My second piano teacher was a friend of Dennis and his wife Toh Chee Hung and I think that was how I first introduced myself to Dennis over a telephone call back in 1991 when I started work here. I cannot remember how or why the conversation came about but what I remember was that it was a long, and for the most of the time, it was hilarious and an absolute joy. I recall laughing a lot. All this given that I was a little nervous and apprehensive at first to speak with a pianist whom we all looked up to when we were students.

 

I did not speak with Dennis again until many years later in the mid-2010s at a lunch and after that, because of work, I got to know Chee Hung better. Strangely though it was during the pandemic (2020–2021) that I got to speak with Dennis again more (via WhatsApp) when he launched his CD of the Debussy Preludes. He had also sent me, a copy of his much praised (and deservedly so) CD of Szymanowski piano music and an accompanying note. I was very moved by the gesture and the CD - which for whatever reason I never owned - made me revisit Szymanowski.

 

Above all however, it was something Dennis said in a masterclass which he gave to the late Malaysian pianist Pauline Kung (1970-2015) that shaped the way I look at life today. There was a piano or pianissimo passage and Dennis said something that remains with me. It went something like this, in reference to how one controls piano tone when playing softly, “When you don’t have a lot, you treasure it more.”  

 

One could say the same about life.

 

Dennis Lee was more than just a musician and pianist who showed what was possible for Malaysians: from the few times I interacted with him and from all the advice I heard him give in masterclasses or whenever he spoke about a work, Dennis was a generous and wonderful human being.

Photo courtesy of Singapore Symphony Orchestra

All photographs of Dennis Lee concert programmes come from the Phan Ming Yen collection.

 

A PERSONAL TRIBUTE TO DENNIS LEE (1946-2023)

A PERSONAL TRIBUTE

TO DENNIS LEE (1946-2023)

 

Dennis Lee Ean Hooi was the first concert pianist to emerge from Malaya. Born in Penang in 1946, he was Malaysia’s premier pianist, the first one to make it big in the West. His name was on the lips of all who knew classical music here during the 1970s through 90s. The first time I heard him perform was on a radio broadcast on Singapore Broadcasting Corporation’s 92.4 FM channel during the early 1980s, long before the station went into terminal decline. It was a recital from the Cheltenham Festival, which had works like Schubert’s C minor Sonata (D.958) and Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales. I was hearing a major artist at work and got hooked immediately. Then I wondered when I would actually catch him in person.

Dennis Lee's autograph (left)
is typically modest and self-effacing,
reflecting an unassuming personality.

 

That came in 1987, when he performed Prokofiev’s compact First Piano Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Choo Hoey conducting. He autographed my 2-piano score (above), and I still have it today. Years later, he played the same concerto with the Malaysian Philharmonic in Kuala Lumpur, and performed it much like before, incisive in his attack and never forsaking the inherent wit in the music.

 

It took some nerve to introduce myself to him in his next SSO appearance in 1997, when he performed Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Gaetano Delogu directing. I remember his encore, the Schumann-Liszt Widmung, which was prefaced by him reading the original love poem. I then found out that he knew my maternal uncle, a fellow-student in Penang Free School, and that he attended my grandfather’s bible study class in Green Lane during the 1950s.

Dennis Lee's famous Szymanowski disc
on Hyperion, and the Ravel
with Philippe Entremont

 

By that time, I already owned two CD recordings of his, the wonderful Hyperion disc of Szymanowski’s piano music (still his finest recording, and one that would open the floodgate of Szymanowski piano recordings to come) and Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite with Philippe Entremont. I later learnt he had the same agent as the famous Frenchman, and when CBS Masterworks needed someone to partner Entremont for the 4-hands work, Dennis got the gig. More recently, Dennis Lee began his Debussy solo cycle on the ICSM Records label, and two critically acclaimed discs have been issued. A third CD is awaiting release and I hope that happens soon.  

Dennis Lee's two latest recordings
of Debussy's piano music.

 

From the 1977 Casagrande Competition,
Dennis Lee with Alexander Lonquich.

It must be remembered that Dennis had won prizes in multiple international piano competitions, including 2^nd Prize at the prestigious Busoni (Bolzano, Italy), Casagrande (Terni, Italy) competitions and 1^st prizes in Epinal, France. He was also a finalist at the Sydney International Piano Competition during its inaugural year 1977.

 

Dennis & Chee Hung signing autographs
at Kuala Lumpur's Dewan Filarmonik Petronas.

By 2000, Dennis and his Singapore-born fellow-pianist wife Toh Chee Hung were performing regularly in Singapore. Arguably the finest performances of Mozart’s Double Piano Concerto (K.365) I had ever heard were given by them with the SSO under Shui Lan, both in Singapore and on tour to Kuala Lumpur. Their performances of 4-hands piano music were legendary, and I imagined them to be the Southeast Asian version of the famous Israeli duo of Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir. Their intuitive and near-telepathic communication, allied by unfailing good taste and examplary stage deportment made them the final word in duet playing.

Outside Victoria Concert Hall,
Singapore International Piano Festival 2005.

 

I was privileged as Artistic Director of the Singapore International Piano Festival to have had them perform in 2005 the most demanding of 2-piano programmes, which included a set of Schubert variations, Mozart’s Sonata in D major (K.448),  Colin McPhee’s Ceremonial Balinese Music, Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, Debussy’s Nocturnes (Nuages & Fetes, arranged by Ravel) and Chabrier’s Espana. I believe the Debussy and McPhee to be Singapore premieres, works which they had specially learnt for the occasion. At the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre later in the same year, they performed a less arduous programme, capped by Dennis’ passionate yet lyrically fine take on Brahms’ mighty Third Sonata (Op.5).

 

Four hands at Victoria Concert Hall.

At Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre
HSBC Classics 2005.

Being a regular at the SSO, I also saw Dennis play Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto (with Libor Pesek) and Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto (with Okko Kamu), both memorable for different reasons. In the Rachmaninov, he was at his most comfortable, totally at home with the music’s lush melancholy, while being stretched to his physical and technical limits in the Brahms. More recently, he gave a very fine reading of Beethoven Fourth Piano Concerto with Singapore’s professional chamber outfit re:Sound Collective, which I described as being “more classically attuned, ...with transparent textures, measured gestures and no little nimbleness”.

At Chateau Konishi, Penang, 2007

 

He had a wide and catholic repertoire, which included not just the classics but also an imperious Liszt Polonaise No.2, heard at a concert at the University Cultural Centre. Oh, now I totally regret missing a 1980s recital which had at its centrepiece Villa-Lobos’ Rudepoema. In his later years, he included Liszt’s Sonata in B minor and Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit to his already vast repertory. He was however happiest performing with Chee Hung in duets which many people may not know (Mozart, Schubert, Clementi, Dussek et al), and I got to witness more of their work as a dinner guest of theirs in Tan Sri Fumihiko Konishi’s French-styled chateau by the edge Penang’s Turf Club. And he could also improvise and play popular melodies, as seen in a New Year’s Eve party at the home of famous surgeon N.K.Yong.  

After a Kuala Lumpur recital,
with Esther Budiardjo, George Wong
& Margaret Yeoh, 2005.

Dennis regaling Kun Woo Paik
& Mrs Paik, Makansutra 2005.

 

Music aside, I remember Dennis most for his warmth, kindness, hospitality, friendship and infinite good humour. Without fail every year, I would receive a birthday e-mail greeting from him, asking about my plans to celebrate. For me, music is a celebration of life and Dennis (and Chee Hung) provided many such wonderful moments. There have been many meetings and meals together over the years, and these always brought out the raconteur in him, his many stories and escapades of concert life and piano examinations truly tickled the funny bone.

Dennis Lee with fellow jurors at the
London International Piano Competition 2002
Photo by Gustav Alink.

 

I close this simple tribute with a memory from 2002 as a guest of Dennis’ when he was a jury member in the now-defunct London International Piano Competition. We were driving from his home in Ladbroke Grove to South Bank Centre, when the car was caught in a midday gridlock on High Street Kensington, with minutes to spare before a semi-final round was to begin. I had never seen him lose his cool, but this came very close to it. He drove as fast as he could, jamming on the accelerator, but there were no swear words or expletives. He just exclaimed to the imaginary vehicular flock of sheep in front of him, “Can’t you see I need to judge a competition!!!”

 

London traffic got to him even when the Hammerklavier fugue failed.  

 

DEBUSSY PRÉLUDES / Dennis Lee, Piano on ICSM Records / Review

DEBUSSY Préludes Books 1 & 2

DENNIS LEE, Piano

ICSM Records 015 / TT: 77”43

 

This is the second album of a survey of Claude Debussy’s complete piano music by Penang-born London-based pianist Dennis Lee. Like his earlier disc, focusing on the complete Images and Estampes, the 24 Préludes (published as two books, each with twelve pieces) is another fascinating journey through the impressionist sound world.

 

Debussy had written the pieces first, later appending the oh-so-poetic French titles which would appear at the bottom of each page. One is thus invited to first listen, imagine and fantasise before secrets are eventually revealed. As with the paintings of Monet, Renoir or Cezanne, one marvels at colour, light and shade, as expressed in brush-strokes, points or dots, with images and ideas later formed by the viewer’s senses.

Monet impressions. What do you see?
Water, sunlight and Houses of Parliament,
an impression of London on the Thames.

 

Book One is the more often performed set, and has the most familiar Préludes, including La fille aux cheveux de lin (The Girl with Flaxen Hair), La cathédrale engloutie (The Engulfed Cathedral) and Minstrels. My favourite sequence runs from Préludes 4 through 7, which encompasses the full palette of Debussy’s expressive effects. Shrouded mystery in Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir (Sounds and Scents Swirl in the Evening Air, by far the longest title), sunlit playfulness in Les collines d’Anacapri (The Hills of Anacapri), bleak desolation in Des pas sur la neige (Footprints in the snow) and untamed violence in Ce qu’a ve le vent d’ouest (What the West Wind Saw) seem to say it all. Lee crafts these variegated scenes and moods to perfection, particularly in the portrayal of unremitting wintry sadness.   

24 pictures representing 24 préludes,
as found on Google's image search.

 

Book Two offers both pianist and listener a wider spectrum of contrasts, even if the pieces are less familiar, with the exceptions of Bruyeres (Heaths) and Feux d’artifice (Fireworks), which concludes the set. In the opening Brouillards (Mists), one is immediately submerged in a heady mix of sound textures, then led into the melancholic visage of Feuilles mortes (Dead Leaves) and vigorous Spanish rhythms of La puerta del Vino (The Wine Gate), before flitting with Les fees sont d’exquises danseuses (The Fairies are Exquisite Dancers). I could go on but one gets the picture that these are aurally stimulating miniatures which Lee gets to the heart of. His fingerwork is crystal-clear, pedalling exemplary, and contrasts and varying textures judged close to perfection.   

 

The recorded sound is warm and mellow, without the over-reverberance or haziness of sonority that tend to accompany some Debussy or Ravel recordings. Even if one possesses the famed recordings of Cortot, Gieseking (despite the limited sonics in both), Zimerman, Kocsis or Thibaudet (the modern day references), this set is ardently recommended.  

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES / re:Sound / Review

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

re:Sound

Victoria Concert Hall

Wednesday (1 March 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 3 March 2017 with the title "Advantage ensemble".

August 31 of 2016 will be remembered with much fondness, for that was the day when re:Sound, Singapore's first professional chamber orchestra, gave its inaugural concert. Its second concert conducted by Singapore Symphony Orchestra Associate Conductor Jason Lai showed that all the  critical acclaim and good notices were fully justified.

The essence of chamber music lies in diminutive forces, with a small number of individuals listening and reponding to each other within a show of intimate cooperation. This was no better illustrated in avant-garde Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti's Ramifications, scored for just 12 string players, each with a different part.

With six players tuned a quarter-tone sharper than the others, the effect was one of deliberate aural disorientation through constantly wavering pitches. Like a floor that fluidly shifts under one's feet, the emanating sound evolved from an incessant buzzing, through high-pitched tinnitus to subterranean growls, all achieved with utmost control at low volumes.

This “music” then evaporated into the ether, leaving the conductor beating time in thin air and ambient silence. These startling plays on sonics will explain why Stanley Kubrick so effectively used Ligeti's music for his iconic movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining.

Altogether more traditional was Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto in G major with veteran Penang-born pianist Dennis Lee as soloist. His delivery of its opening chords was pivotal, a secure statement borne from wealth of experience, which defined the tenor of this reading.  His was a more classical-attuned view, of transparent textures, measured gestures and no little nimbleness, as opposed to the boisterously Romantic version offered by Nicholas Angelich recently with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Lee's Apollo was a world apart from Angelich's Dionysus, but both had much to offer in this  masterpiece. One factor that tipped to Lee's favour was the smaller ensemble, which revealed often glossed-over details besides providing sensitive accompaniment. The rapt conversation of Orpheus and the Furies in the slow movement was a lovely interlude before the unbridled jollity of the finale.

The programming of Mendelssohn's Third Symphony (also known as the “Scottish”) seemed like straying into SSO territory but no, this was a thoroughly enthralling account that revelled in the chamber forces utilised. No victim to Victoria Concert Hall's sometimes feared reverberance, the strings sang without inhibition, while woodwinds and brass rang with bell-like clarity.

Conductor Lai's tempos were excellently judged, the solemnity of the opening movement (evoking the ruins of Edinburgh's Holyrood Castle) contrasted well with the vigourous Allegro that followed. Storm clouds hovered menacingly but sunshine prevailed in this luminescent account, which also gloried in the snappy and mercurial Scherzo, and nostalgia of the song-like slow movement.

The martial finale did not strike a warlike posture for long, instead delighting in the ending chorale cast in the major key. Delivering victory without too much bloodshed, one looks forward to re:Sound's next concerts on 26 April and 2 July.